Livestock such as cattle are fed throughout the year at different locations with a variety of feed of various forms including fodder and forage such as staple grains and hay. In some instances certain feed constituents with supplements are chopped to a relatively small size, mixed and then compressed in pellet form that is more efficiently stored and distributed. Hay or alfalfa, which is a staple livestock forage feed, is usually collected and compressed into dense, tightly packed bales that are generally oblong in shape. In order for the compressed baled hay to be distributed to individual cattle small quantities of hay must be separated from the bale. Where many animals are involved it is overly time consuming to separate by hand a bale of hay. Heretofore, to solve the problem of breaking up hay bales into smaller portions machines have been devised for shredding or grinding the hay bales. However, a serious disadvantage with such prior machines was that they tended to pulverize the hay, destroying the leaf content and destroying a large percentage of the hay.
It is therefore a general object of the invention to provide a machine for sub-dividing bales of compressed hay or forage into a plurality of substantially smaller portions that can be readily distributed and devoured by livestock.
Another more specific object of the invention is to provide a machine which will saw a bale of hay at a plurality of parallel spaced apart locations to form a plurality of substantially equal elongated slab sections which will readily break apart into smaller components without destroying the fibre and leaf content of the hay.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine that will move a continuous line of spaced apart hay bales through successive banks of moving multiple saws to form a multiplicity of oblong hay components of substantially uniform size.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved machine for sub-dividing a compressed bale of hay into smaller, uniform portions that can be shipped or stored in knockdown form and then can be readily erected with minimal tools and labor to be ready for its hay cutting operation.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine for cutting a bale of hay into a plurality of slab sections wherein vertical cutting saws and also drive means for input and output conveyors are powered by the same power source.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a machine for cutting hay bales into sub sections that is particularly well adapted for ease and economy of manufacture and that is easy to service and maintain.